Obituary of Mary Kathleen MacGillivray

The MacGillivray family lost their matriarch on July 14, 2025.  At the age of 105, we all knew this day was coming, but secretly expected that she would live forever.  Mary Kathleen MacGillivray was a wife, a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother.  She was also an artist and an art teacher.  She touched the lives of so many people in Antigonish with her passion for art.  Countless people have taken her art class in her basement on Hawthorne Street and the art room at the local high school.  She continued painting up until her death.  Mary’s paintings, and her students’ paintings proudly hang on walls throughout her community.  To her family, she was the mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother who loved family dinners (and especially dessert), whose nail polish and lipstick always matched, and who had a love for vibrant colours, shoes and fashion.

Mary will be sadly missed and lovingly remembered by her children Burke (Maureen) MacGillivray; Adele Stewart; Brian (Gayle) MacGillivray; Rose Ann MacGillivray (Norman Letalik); her grandchildren Mairi (Timothy) MacGillivray Stewart; Alastair (Janine) MacGillivray; Meghan (Andrew) MacGillivray Case; Andrew (Charlamagne) MacGillivray; Patrick MacGillivray; Adam (Krystyn) Letalik; Ben (Tamara) Letalik; Kate Stewart; great grandchildren Bronwyn and Samuel Stewart; Lucas, Liam, and Juliette Case; Leo and Joey Letalik; and Olivia and Jack Letalik.

Mary was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia to parents Daniel and Mary Burke on January 2, 1920.  Growing up, she loved her summers in West River, and began teaching in Antigonish County after graduating from Normal College in Truro.  Mary was a proud Xavarian, graduating with a BA in 1978. She and Hugh Daniel MacGillivray, who predeceased her, were married for 49 years.

Visitation will be held from 2:00-4:00 pm and 6:00-8:00 pm on Friday, July 18, 2025 in MacIsaac Funeral  Home, 61 Pleasant Street, Antigonish. Funeral Mass will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday, July 19, 2025 in the RK MacDonald Nursing Home Chapel, 64 Pleasant Street, Antigonish. Mary’s family extends heartfelt thanks to Dr. David Cudmore, and all of the wonderful caregivers at the RK MacDonald Nursing Home. Memorial donations may be made to a charity of choice.